Dell Inspiron 6000 Internal Speaker Issue

So the other night I heard some crackling noises coming from my laptop and then the sound just stopped working altogether. I pretty frequently plug and unplug a set of external speakers in the headphone jack so I figured this might be the issue. Sure enough, when I apply pressure with my finger over the headphone jack opening the internal speakers work fine. When I release the pressure the internal speakers stop working. I kind of smacked the laptop on the side a bit and it seems to be ok for now but I'm guessing the only way to fix this permanently if the issue returns is to open the laptop and secure anything that might be loose near the headphone jack. I have never opened up my laptop before, if I do have to do this are there some precautions I should be taking to ensure I don't completely mess it up?